Time was a board game was released, without fanfare, without hype, it simply came to be. But that was back when the tabletop gaming industry was a backyard affair, when the majority of developers worked out of their shed or people would import a game hoping they could find someone to translate the German rules for them.

Now however, gaming has grown, become more mature and with big mergers like that between Asmodee and Fantasy Flight Games is turning into big business. This means that previews, announcements and a sense of anticipation has become the norm. It also means that we get to see the games of 2016 long before they come out.

So we've put together a list of some of the most intriguing, interesting and hyped games of 2016.

Nostalgia is a powerful thing. How you remember the games that you played many years ago can be very different from the reality. They were the games that defined your history in gaming so you place them upon a pedestal.

Space Crusade is one such game. It introduced me to the Warhammer 40,000 universe, opened my eyes to the world of tactical miniatures games and cemented my love of hobby board games. But is it any good, or do the rose tinted glasses of nostalgia obscure the reality?

Original article: Cheers. Good health. Skol. Iechyd da. Every language has the Toast, when you raise your glass, wish someone the best and drink your beverage. But what if you don't actually wish good health on the drinker, what if you want the drinker to die? Then the best option of course is to slip some poison into your enemy's cup. The problem is someone else will no doubt be looking to poison you, so you best keep an eye on which cup has the poison, and which has the antidote. Is it me, or does this wine taste faintly of almonds?

If you're a card gamer then one thing you'll no doubt have littered
around your house are card boxes. Every time you build yourself a new
deck you have put it somewhere so you end up with all manner of tuck
boxes, cartons and tins. That's why when Narrows Hill Games sent me some information about the Card Caddy I
had to get a closer look.

We have already covered what I consider are the Best Games of 2015 (that I've managed to play of course) but gaming isn't, and shouldn't be, dominated by just the new hotness. That's why every year I look back at which games have actually hit my table the most.

As with every year I have to give kudos to Fire Broadside, who I shamelessly stole this idea from and I love reading his lists every year.

There is no doubt that 2015 has been another great year for board games. Again the industry has grown and shows no sign of stopping as literally thousands of games are released every year.

It's because of the huge volume of table top games released in 2015 that this year’s list has been difficult to put together. Usually the difficulty has been in finding enough games of the year that I have played, but this year narrowing the list down to just 10 games has been a struggle.

Rumours where abound last year that Games Workshop where returning to their ‘specialist games’ range and that we’d be seeing returns of old favourites like Blood Bowl, Necromunda, Battlefleet Gothic and Mordheim. Personally I took this news with a pinch of salt, we’ve been hearing rumours of Blood Bowl’s return for a few years, but now we have proof as pictures courtesy of Tales of a Tabletop Skirmisher show.